the first world something something

I’m not sure if i want to say we live in a world of entitlement. we get spoiled for sure.
generally speaking , as americans, i mean.
why is it that we feel like we have to keep up? why do we always feel like we need and deserve more? no limit. no restrictions. no budget. gimme gimme…more more. MORE! it’s obscene and pretty indecent. and it’s sickening. all this frivolous spending and building. all this pollution that we continue to contribute to. not just the cars or electronics or extra plastic water bottles; it’s the behavior. the behavior of noisy and whiney entitled kids in a store wanting to get the latest games, fones, clothes, music, gear… kids complaining that they can’t adjust their photos on their iPad screens…

and why on earth did they get the iphone 4 when they (their parents) knew very well the iphone 5 was already out….?
the noisy kids at a restaurant who feel that putting their feet up on the chairs is okay. they are ordering a meal and feel their right is to be obnoxious and put their feet up, spill a few things here and there and they demand more. They order more food only to be wasted and thrown out. and the parents who allow this and who cater to them because they are simply “expressing themselves”. right. there is something called manners. humanitarian ways and courtesy. these don’t limit us, or limit how we express ourselves, they ground us.
adults do it, of course. they become this wild beast with no boundaries.

i went to a dinner party..and the conversations i heard were… ” the sauce might taste a little different. sorry for that, i did’t have the champagne i normally use so i had to use this california sparkling…” . She went on, “I had no time to go out get a bottle. ugg , i had to run around getting the kids from dance and the others from tae kwon do… it never ends…the beamer is at the mechanic so we had to get a small nissan to get by until the weekend but they gave it me with only half tank of gas… now i have to put gas before i drop off kids at piano … “.
It was quite entertainment…the monologue. all i pictured was a cute comic strip: insane in the mom-brain.

once i heard a close friend say “oh crap, that fly just landed on the cheese and fruit platter, fuck , now i have to throw it out!”

I thought she was kidding so, jokingly i said ..”oh, dear! poor you!” and she replied. “not sure where else the fly landed, on the grapes? strawberries?…. I’m not taking a chance”. i smiled and told her. “really, no big deal! in my house i have a 10 second rule… sometimes a 10 minute rule” , i laughed.
“please , don’t do that for any of us; we’re outside, the flies will come and go…”
but she continued…
next thing i hear is the platter (with 3 kinds of brie and 3 other pieces of cheese…) emptied in the black trash bin. damn! he went out to get replacements. yikes. what a waste and it kind of deflated me. still, it didn’t stop me from drinking a few more glasses of wine.

me… i love my pool. and i hear myself saying things like:

we live in a world where we , and the children we are raising, are consumers. some, mega consumers. I’m not a particularly religious person, so when i walk around the stores and see the jesus cross for sale or on clearance during easter and christmas, it doesn’t offend me in a way that it may offend the christians or catholics. what offends me is that we start hammering this consumerism months before the event and there is SOOOO MUCH STUFF. yes, i know, what is important or frivilous to me, is different to my fellow shopper, but , still, when does it stop? when is it enough? it is not just 1st or 5th generation americans, no. i speak with people of different cultures who have recently immigrated here, and it’s clear- i hear: “america is so convenient…” and “in my country i was doctor but i could not buy all this. here i am mechanic and i have bigger house….”

not sure where i’m going with this…
it’s just crowed. crowded with stuff. feels like we’re sinking.